Pounce! Dems To Keep Senate Open All Night To Force GOP Hand On Financial Reform

Frustrated by an ongoing campaign by the GOP to block debate on financial reform legislation, Democrats plan to hold the Senate floor open all night, potentially holding repeated votes to break the filibuster, or forcing Republicans to publicly object to debating their bill. But the move comes just as Republicans appear closer than ever to throwing in the towel.

“The voting is up to the Majority Leader, how often they vote,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin told reporters after Republicans, for the third straight day, voted in lockstep to prevent debate on the Democrats’ bill. “Staying in session? Making unanimous consent requests? Those things are all options…. Votes may be recurring regularly.”Republicans, though, don’t seem long for this fight. Earlier today, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sounded close to ceding, calling his filibuster a useful exercise, but implying that it will soon come to an end.

“There is s some dissension within [McConnell’s] ranks and I hope we see it in the votes soon,” Durbin added.

That assessment dovetails with those of key Republicans.

“I think we’ll know more by the end of the day,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) told me. “I think everyone–I think the leader, Shelby, and everyone thusfar has said at some point, it’s recognized that this bill will be taken up.”

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the ranking member on the Banking Committee, told reporters after the vote that he’d be meeting with his counterpart Chris Dodd one more time this afternoon, to “see if there’s any way to bridge any gap between us and the Democrats on the consumer issues.”

“If it’s not, we’ll have to go to the next step,” Shelby added. “All roads ultimately lead to the floor one way or another.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com